The Advocate: Vargas: Mark Ingram, Saints running game show early promise

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Vargas: Mark Ingram, Saints running game show early promise

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; ST. LOUIS — Saints running back Mark Ingram headed into the down period between the 2013 and 2014 NFL seasons on a definite high note. Ingram had averaged 5.6 yards an attempt on 89 carries for 501 yards and two ...

ST. LOUIS — Saints running back Mark Ingram headed into the down period between the 2013 and 2014 NFL seasons on a definite high note. Ingram had averaged 5.6 yards an attempt on 89 carries for 501 yards and two touchdowns over the previous 11 games, two of which were in the playoffs.

Yet, as training camp preparations for the Saints’ upcoming campaign ramped up at The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia in late July, the questions persisted among fans and in the media: Could Ingram avoid a slow start like the one that in 2013 limited him to a paltry 31 yards on 17 carries before a toe injury in Week 2 sidelined him for the next five games?

He says, “Absolutely,” if the Saints’ 26-24 victory over the Rams at the Edward Jones Dome on Friday is any indication.

Ingram needed to be handed the ball just eight times to gain 83 yards and punch in a touchdown that momentarily helped give New Orleans a 16-14 lead late in the first half. That translated to 10.4 yards per carry, a devastating figure Ingram reached after notching a run of 19 yards and two for 22 (one of which was his score with 2:37 to go in the second quarter).

“We just wanted to give ... the team confidence in the run game — that we could go out there and be physical and be smash-mouthed and pound it on anybody,” Ingram said at his locker afterward. “It was good to get off to a fast start.”

I was impressed with the run game but Ingram looked really good. I think that he's going to have a great year. Only problem is, and it's a terrific problem to have, the Saints might have the best back field in the NFL.